Information Is Beautiful » Hierarchy of Digital Distractions @ MoMA
Very honoured that the Hierarchy of Digital Distractions features in the latest exhibition at the Museum Of Modern Art in New York. “Talk To Me”, curated by the legendary Paola Antonelli, explores how innovations in communication design are transforming our lives. It features interactive objects, data visualizations, and brain-blending guerilla tech projects. The Hierarchy Of Digital Distractions explores and visualizes the subtle, invisible structure I use to prioritize one digital distraction over another. To celebrate, I’ve created a batch limited edition prints. I thought it would be ironic to render such a technological-themed viz with the really old-school “risograph” print technique. Look at that! (They’re also super eco-friendly: printed on recycled art paper with soy-based inks.) You can order limited edition signed prints now in our store.
In Praise of the Hashtag
For this, of course, we can thank Twitter. Five years ago, Twitter’s users invented what’s now known as the hashtag: a pithy phrase, preceded by that hungry octothorpe, used to either label or comment on the preceding tweet. (Pretend this sentence is a tweet. #thiswouldbethehashtag.) In the early days, hashtags were primarily functional — a way of categorizing tweets by topic so that members of the Twittersphere could follow conversations of interest to them by searching for a list of similarly tagged tweets. The first hashtag, proposed by the user Chris Messina, was intended to collate conversations about the tech conference BarCamp, so the hashtag was #barcamp. Over time, though, the hashtag has evolved into something else — a form that allows for humor, darkness, wordplay and, yes, even poetry. As a result, we’ve arrived at a strange moment for the hashtag. Yet the rise of the hashtag’s commercial possibilities shouldn’t lead us to overlook what is truly remarkable about it.
Yin and Yang
Voices in Time The Yellow Emperor said: “The principle of Yin and Yang is the foundation of the entire universe. It underlies everything in creation. It brings about the development of parenthood; it is the root and source of life and death; it is found within the temples of the gods. In order to treat and cure diseases one must search for their origins. “Heaven was created by the concentration of Yang, the force of light; earth was created by the concentration of Yin, the force of darkness. “The pure and lucid element of light is manifested in the upper orifices, and the turbid element of darkness is manifested in the lower orifices. “If Yang is overly powerful, then Yin may be too weak. “Nature has four seasons and five elements. Qi Bo answered: “When Yang is the stronger, the body is hot, the pores are closed, and people begin to pant; they become boisterous and coarse and do not perspire.
What Is Real Is Imagined
Draft is a series about the art and craft of writing. As night falls, I watch from the window as flashes from Tuskar Rock Lighthouse become visible. It does its two flashes and then stops as though to take a breath. And the smell of clover in the field before the cliff is the same smell, although it must be different clover. There is a farmers’ market in Enniscorthy town, 10 miles away, on Saturday mornings. The world that fiction comes from is fragile. Brendan MonroeCLICK TO ENLARGE What occurs as I walk in the town now is nothing much. I don’t know what she thought, of course, so I have to imagine. But the singing voice is a mere detail in a large texture of a self that gradually comes alive — enough to seem wholly invented and fully imagined, although based on what was once real. All the rooms, however, are really real, as real as they once were. I have been writing about writers and their families so it is strange that the idea of rights versus responsibilities does not preoccupy me.
The Reconstructionists
Sokushinbutsu
Sokushinbutsu (即身仏?) refers to a practice of Buddhist monks observing austerity to the point of death and mummification. This process of self-mummification was mainly practiced in Yamagata in Northern Japan between the 11th and 19th century, by members of the Japanese Vajrayana school of Buddhism called Shingon ("True Word"). It is believed that many hundreds of monks tried, but only 24 such mummifications have been discovered to date. Today, the practice is not advocated or practiced by any Buddhist sect, and is banned in Japan.[3] The practice was satirized in the story "The Destiny That Spanned Two Lifetimes" by Ueda Akinari, in which such a monk was found centuries later and resuscitated. In January 2015 the 200 year old body of a mummified monk in lotus position was found in the Songinokhairkhan district of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia. [4] In popular culture[edit] See also[edit] References[edit] Further reading[edit] Hori, Ichiro (1962). External links[edit]
Global Capitalism with a Human Face? « AC VOICE
(Pete Suechting)— Why are charity and environmental conscientiousness so widespread, even fashionable, in today’s society? Back in the 1960’s and even earlier than that, these attitudes were anomalies, only practiced by societal outliers. Before Rachel Carson’s landmark work, Silent Spring, most Americans were unaware that humans could have an adverse and discernible impact on the environment. So, how and why have these attitudes become so prevalent today? Slavoj Zizek, along with the excellent whiteboard animations of the RSAnimate team, attacks the source of this societal transformation with his usual critical, yet deeply perceptive, approach. Zizek characterizes today’s form of capitalism as “global capitalism with a human face”, or more generally, cultural capitalism. Zizek points to Toms as the most “absurd example” of cultural capitalism. Learning of inequality or injustice in the world causes an emotional response. So, how do we address this problem? Like this: Like Loading...
Google bans Glass from shareholder meeting - Android Authority
In an ironic twist, Google has decided to ban Glass from their annual shareholders meeting. Like so many bars and other establishments ahead of them, Google fears Glass may be a bit too invasive. If they were hoping to avoid controversy in Mountain View with regard to Glass, they failed. To be fair, Google has also banned cell phones and other recording devices, so it’s not all about Glass. To further drive the point home, Google has made no claims that Glass doesn’t have the ability or functionality to be intrusive on privacy. Having recently banned facial recognition software from Glass, it’s clear that Google has perhaps failed to properly appreciate how pervasive the technology can be, or what developers have in mind when considering the device as a platform to program for. It’s been a rough road travelled, and Glass isn’t even available to the public yet. Like most things Glass related, this is a slippery slope.
